


Rain

by Higgles123



Category: Taboo (TV 2017)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-23
Updated: 2020-05-23
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:53:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24341617
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Higgles123/pseuds/Higgles123
Relationships: James Delaney/Original Character(s)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 17





	Rain

“Can I get you anything else to eat, Mr Delaney?” her voice was soft and her smile genuine as her hazel orbs glinted in the candlelight.

“No,” he murmured. “I’m going out but Miss Bow will be back imminently and no doubt she’ll require a bath.”

“Already got the water boiling,” she informed him.

He nodded. She always knew exactly what was expected and when. That was initially why she had been hired. Brace needed help despite his protestations and in truth, Lorna needed a female around the house. Someone to discuss womanly wiles and things that had no interest to James. And the truth of course was that nothing interested James in less he sought to gain something from it. Yet, more and more often he found himself making unnecessary conversation with his raven haired maid because he wanted to. Ariadne Myles was an enigma to James, and like the myth she was named for, she had him in a labyrinth of his own where he was unable to escape. She had him held captive and she had no idea.

She walked about the house in almost the same manner he himself did; quiet and stealthy, her feet never so much as touching those floorboards that creaked and spoke of this place. Then again, the walls spoke even louder. The grief and madness of the home poured out of the walls whose hastily slathered paint job wasn’t enough to conceal the true anguish that lurked beneath the surface. He could see in her eyes that she felt it just as he did. Only he had succumbed to the darkness that grasped at him with gnarled claws, but she still fought and tried to keep her light from dimming. He knew this because he felt it. And tonight he would see it.

“Shall I make you some tea before you go out?” she asked, leaning across the table to reach for the gravy jug and allowing James breathe in the smell of jasmine that radiated from her.

“I think not,” he answered, feeling a physical coldness when she was far away and looking at him expectantly from the doorway. “Don’t wait up, Ri. I expect not to be back until late.”

“Very well, Mr Delaney,” she smiled, her heart fluttering inside at the abbreviation of her name. Everyone called her Ri, yet no one else could illicit such a reaction from her. like he could. “Take care of yourself, won’t you. I shouldn’t like to be cleaning up blood first thing in the morning.”

His beard twitched as the corners of his mouth turned up into a smile that would have been missable to someone who didn’t know the man very well. Pulling on his hat and coat, he left without another word and Ariadne sighed. She couldn’t explain the emptiness that filled the house when he was gone, but then emptiness was perhaps the wrong word to use because this house could never be empty. A better description might be the way the house wasn’t the same without his foreboding presence. It was as though the house behaved differently when he was here. If houses could talk, this one would cry and drag a person down. It was suffocating and dark, and even though James Delaney brought the darkness with him, it was different somehow. His darkness didn’t seek to hurt her but something else in this house surely did.

Ariadne had pondered leaving many times. She had even packed her bags and prepared her letter of resignation, but then the time came and that parchment of paper found its way to the fire, and her belongings were back in her wardrobe. It was as though the house fed on the grief she struggled with every day since losing her parents three years ago and what she had done in order to keep herself alive. It was like the house thrived on her pain and it was only when James was here did he keep it at bay without even knowing.

The door opened and she knew by the rustle of fabric that Miss Bow was home and suddenly she had little time to worry about the house any longer. She wouldn’t have time to worry about it until tonight when sleep came and with it so did the darkness. And so did _she;_ the woman who haunted her dreams and made her remember things she didn’t want to. 

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

The flames crackled as James chanted his incantations and blew his powders. They called to him, inviting him. They hissed his name and he succumbed to them without hesitation.

_She was close by. He could hear her heart beating; he could feel it pulsating in the palm of his hand as though he held it there. He could feel the pain inside that life giving organ and he dropped the imaginary heart in his hand to the ground as though scalded. The air was static and it awoke his body like nothing else ever could. Above him a crow circled, cawing and screeching in excitement. He heard it then. The crying._

_“Ariadne?” he spoke but she didn’t acknowledge him._

_She stared at the water’s edge, her tears falling into the lake creating ripples that circled widely. She squeezed her eyes shut in pain and her hands began to drip with blood. He saw the images flashing through her mind as though he was seeing them in real life. She was alone on the street, huddled up behind a barrel seeking comfort from the rain. A man appeared, a staggering drunken oaf and he grabbed her. James could feel the pain of his grip upon Ariadne’s arm and how he had thrown her against the wall, tearing at her clothes. It all happened so fast but he felt the very moment she pierced the man’s skin with the knife concealed in her skirt. He felt her surprise at having done it and then her horror as the man collapsed against her, his blood pouring out onto the dirty cobbled street. She threw up right there beside the body and then ran. Ran and didn’t dare look back._

_“I didn’t mean to do it,” she whispered over and over again to herself as James watched her once more on the river’s edge._

_The water bubbled and the surface broke as a figure rose, tall and strong; a figure he recognised. Ariadne looked up into his mother’s eyes and her body slumped. She couldn’t fight it any longer. The woman knew she had done such a terrible thing and she knew Ariadne must pay for it. Night after night, month after month she had grown ever closer to silently persuading Ariadne to step into the water and face her eternal punishment, and finally the time had arrived. Her feet were silent yet swift as they entered the frigid water and James watched in fascinated horror as his mother reached out a hand for the young woman. He could do nothing to stop it as Ariadne took the hand offered to her. His mother threw back her head and cackled, turning to fix her eyes on her son briefly before disappearing under the water and taking Ariadne with her._

_“No,” he dived into the lake without hesitation but all he could see around him was blood. It clouded his vision and suffocated him. Even beneath the water he could hear his mother’s maniacal laughter and he could feel Ariadne’s life force draining out of her._

_He swam blindly and when his hand touched something cold he knew it was her. He didn’t know how he knew but he did. He grabbed hold of her tightly and didn’t let go, swimming to the surface and dragging her with him. Her clothed body was heavy as he kicked and swam but finally he managed to reach the shore with her in tow._

_“Ariadne,” he whispered desperately, brushing her wet hair from her face and shaking her gently. “Ariadne, wake up.”_

_Her body was limp and her breathing so shallow that James wasn’t certain she was even breathing at all. He turned his head when he heard his mother walking towards him, wading through the water and he growled, an animalistic sound that made even her stop in her tracks._

_“Why did you do this?” he demanded. “Why? Why would you do this?”_

_She didn’t answer; of course she didn’t. She didn’t walk any closer, but her eyes told James that she wasn’t finished with the girl yet._

_“Ri,” he tapped her lightly on the cheek. “Come on, Ri, wake up now.”_

Ariadne awoke with a start, clutching at her throat, gasping for breath. The door flung open and James stood in nothing but a shirt and an expression on his face that she had never seen before. His eyes were wide with fear as he launched at her and pulled her against him, touching her face and every part of her.

“You were there,” Ariadne whispered, tears dripping down her cheeks. “You saved me from her, James.”

James closed his eyes at the sound of her using his first name and cupped her face in his hands. His heart was thudding wildly and he swallowed, trying to stem the emotions that encompassed him; emotions a man like him wasn’t used to feeling.

“She won’t hurt you again,” he breathed into her hair. “I won’t let her hurt you again, I promise.”

“I don’t understand how you were there,” Ariadne pulled back to look at him, her eyes searching his for answers.

“It doesn’t matter. All that matters is that I won’t let her hurt you again. Do you trust me?”

“Yes,” she answered without any hesitation, because it was the truth. She would trust James Delaney with her life. “But I need you to tell me how you were there, James.”

“I’ll tell you,” he sighed. “I’ll tell you because I want there to be no secrets between us, but in return, I need you to tell me everything, Ri; not just about the dreams but about the things I saw in that dream.”

“You mean about the man I…” her voice caught briefly and she looked down at the ruffled bedsheets. “…killed.”

“I don’t judge you, Ri,” he lifted her face gently. “We can either become a victim of our circumstances or we can fight. You fought and there should be no shame in that.”

“I know, but-“

“-But nothing,” James shook his head. “We will talk and then afterwards you will sleep with me, safe in the knowledge that she will not harm you. Do you understand?”

Ariadne nodded and gave a small smile. James Delaney would keep her safe, of that she had no doubt. But one thing she did doubt was that after one night of sleeping in James Delaney’s arms, things could never go back to the way they were before.


End file.
